Litter survey ranks Cavan as cleanest town

Cavan has topped the list of 30 Irish towns in the 2003 anti-Litter League, Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) announced today.

Cavan was one of a record eight towns in the country to secure "litter free" status or a rating of "clean to European norms".

However it was not all good news, especially for the east coast, which was represented by six of the bottom seven towns, deemed to have either a "serious litter problem" or to be a "litter blackspot".

It is encouraging that 6 of the 8 areas have improved since the first reading in Spring, but litter remains a problem in our cities Dr Tom Cavanagh, chairman Irish Business Against Litter

Propping up the rest, with the unwanted accolade of being Ireland's dirtiest town is Bray, Co Wicklow, despite near-neighbour Dun Laoghaire being named in second place.

Longford Town was awarded the "most improved town", having moved from "very heavily littered" to the top rung of "clean to European standards" category.

Cities were included in the report for the first time and only two, Limerick and Kilkenny, are in the top half of the league, a fact that is a cause for concern, according to Dr Tom Cavanagh, chairman of Irish Business Against Litter.

"Almost half of our total population live in our cities," said Dr Cavanagh. "It is encouraging that 6 of the 8 areas have improved since the first reading in Spring, but litter remains a problem in our cities."

Although the report did show significant improvement in levels of litter, the average rating is still 10 per cent short of the internationally accepted standard, as adopted by An Taisce. The average rating has risen from 58 per cent to 70 per cent since the league's inception, but still falls short of the "European norms level" of 80 per cent.

IBAL was set up in 1996 and started the league at the beginning of 2002. The alliance encompasses more than 30 member companies who employ over  70,000 staff between them.